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The only question about the highly welcome changes adopted Monday to legislation to address Saskatchewan’s serious and growing problem with impaired driving is why these changes weren’t made sooner.

There’s no doubt that too many Saskatchewan residents harbour a deplorably casual attitude toward getting behind the wheel after drinking, as evidenced by the 6,975 persons charged with impaired driving in 2014.

Editorial: Tougher law on drunk driving welcome, overdueBack to video

It puts Saskatchewan’s rate at 620 charges per 100,000 population, behind only the shocking rates of the Yukon and Northwest Territories, which exceed 1,300 per 100,000. With nearly 1,200 impaired driving collisions last year that killed 53 people and injured 578 others, this province had the highest rate per capita of impaired driving in Canada.

So it’s a relief to see Saskatchewan adopt legislation, which becomes effective Jan. 1, on such things zero tolerance for alcohol consumption and drug use by drivers under age 21, three-day vehicle seizures for the first offence by drivers with a blood-alcohol content (BAC) between 0.04 and 0.08 per cent, and toughened up ignition interlock measures that now apply to even to a first offence.

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It’s notable that Saskatchewan’s new vehicle impoundment provisions put it on a similar footing to Alberta, whose rate has declined to 344 impairment charges per 100,000, and British Columbia, which now records a rate of 274 per 100,000 after it enacted tougher provisions six years ago and impounds vehicles of drivers with a BAC of 0.05.

Given that drivers between the ages of 20 and 21 were responsible last year for about 16 per cent of crashes involving alcohol, accounted for 10 per cent of impaired driving convictions and 10 fatalities — a rate significantly higher than drivers 19 years or younger — it’s sensible that the government decided to adopt the model of Ontario and Manitoba by hiking the zero-tolerance age to 21.

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Along with SGI providing an additional 32 automatic licence plate readers to help police nab more disqualified drivers and kicking in $500,000 for more check stops, Saskatchewan sends a strong message about tackling the problem and stressing a long overdue attitude shift on drinking and driving. When a four-week safety blitz across the province this spring caught 350 impaired drivers — about 11 per day — it was clear the situation has become intolerable.

Whether it’s Louis and Linda Van de Vorst, who were at the legislature in honour of their lost loved ones, Jordan and Chanda Van de Vorst and their young children, Kamryn and Miguire, or it’s others such as Allan Kerpan, who mourns his daughter Danille, or it’s Tanner Kaufman’s wife, Alycia, and father Brent who attended in his memory, or it’s Craig and Bonnie Stevenson, who lost their son Quinn, the list of people whose lives were inexcusably shattered by drunk drivers is too long.

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